Goodbye and hello!
Today was the last day of my stay up here for the field-season. Tomorrow - or today since it’s just past midnight as I write this - I will take the plane back to Oslo. I am really looking forward to going back to Christiane and my friends and my life there. While leaving is something I look forward to with much anticipation, a small part of me is a bit sad as well ..
Before I came back up to Svalbard, I imagined a field-season where I would spend a lot of time on my own, being bored etc. It didn’t turn out like that at all thanks to the great new friends I’ve made up here. I know a lot of people up here now, but the hard core of my new friendships is mostly with the other students and field-assistants who were here during summer. People such as :
Mona “Moan-Aaahh!!” Fuhrmann - a saucy german girl who lives on a vegetarian diet comprised entirely of aphrodisiacs. Her ever more popular love-hearts and banana cake gets the blood flowing in all kinds of funny body parts. She can also take a joke and can catch you completely off guard with kick-ass comeback and riposte jokes that you would not expect from such a seemingly “innocent” girl.
Philip “Tundraman” Semenchuk - A great, easygoing guy with a taste for pastry. He likes taking naps on the tundra and “fucking things up”. He contributed a great deal to the corruption of the way people interact up here by inventing new ways to use the word “fuck”. He also lives in the 80s, likes jazz and is a great improviser in the kitchen.
Jochem “Motherfucker” Veenboer - a dutch bartender with a taste for older women .. and younger women too, of course. He’s a smooth motherfucker and also a great guy to hang with if you happen to be stuck in a cabin for a while because of bad weather. He is sometimes surrounded by girls when alcohol is involved. Good luck with kicking the smoking habit!
Kim “Lil’ Kim” Klein - The dutch Kim is a complex person. An exhibitionistic insomniac, she’s a good singer and loves karaoke. Whereas most people have collections of music that they like, Kim has a collection of karaoke versions of songs. Several gigabytes! That’s crazy. She also likes documenting embarassing things that happen when you’re drunk by filming it with her camera. Also, her periods sometimes make her puke, but she doesn’t let that stop her from having fun.
Anika “riot grrrl” Beiersdorf - At first glance, she seems like a pretty blonde, but you soon find out that Anika will take you down and fuck you up. She is bad-ass, but in a good way. Aside from wanting to shoot tourists who step into her fieldsite, she likes friendly fights with love-interest Chris and aggressive electronica, preferably along with dancing and zamboca shots. Handle with care.
Marie Helene “Hippie girl” Jacques - The instantly likeable, memorable and weird french-canadian is full of everyday wisdom and thinks that science and art should go together. She looks a bit like a native american and she has no reservations about telling people exciting information about her private life. Just ask nicely and she will be happy to show you her diva-cup. She’s also a hardcore outdoors-person and was a rafting guide before she came here. Very much missed!
Markus “Max Hardcore” Eckerstorfer - This highly opinionated austrian is the only guy on Svalbard who can (and sometimes do) wear a tight bikecycle shorts and still kick ass. He’s also able to mix being an able athlete and being a notorious party-machine. Play “love shack” or “club tropicana” if you wanna see him dance and sing. Every nachspiel should have a Max in it!
Chris “christ, it’s Chris” Ware - Possibly “hardware” would also be a better nickname since he’s such a solid guy. Although he’s a native english speaker, he’s the hardest person to understand at Unis. He brings great enthusiasm to everything he does. His constant good mood and able social skills are probably very handy for a guy that spends so much time wiping shoes in the airport. For many visitors, the first thing they met when they came to Svalbard was an eager tasmanian with a shoe-brush. He’s also the man with the goods as he runs the weekly “friday gathering”, something we all owe him our thanks for. Just don’t let him loose on the bike track!
Graeme “Graeme” Abel - In Scotland, the name Graeme is pronounced “Graham”. When people found out how his name was spelled, that was no longer his name. Graaeeme!! With a constant desire to impress, he’s a real talker and can go on and on about any kind of subject for possibly an unlimited amount of time. That’s alright because talking with Graeme is really enjoyable, despite the sometimes hard scottish accent with the strange words and phrases. His constantly positive nature gives a lift to any situation.
These people are of course just a few of my friends up here and there are more I could mention like Allison “Weird Al” Bailey, James “superbrit” Speed or my supervisor Malu (I won’t make up a funny nickname for her, though. I mean, she’s my supervisor!). These are all awesome people and have made my stay on Svalbard so much more enjoyable. Some of you I will see again, but some of you I might not. I will miss you all! Give me or Christiane a call if you are ever in Oslo. :-)
So that’ it ..
As Phil might put it, I leave Svalbard with one laughing eye and one crying eye. The crying eye is thinking “Goodbye Svalbard! Goodbye friends!” while my laughing eye (which is a bit bigger) is thinking “Hello girlfriend, awesome cooking, band rehearsals, outdoor bubble baths, great movies at cinemas, proper diurnal rythmns and awesome rock ‘n roll parties with my friends in Oslo!”
Postet: 15. september, 2008 i kategorien(e) Mitt liv.
Kommentarer: 3































